Sticky Lips and Stranger Touches: Danny Volk is Funnier than You

Danny Volk is not shy. Volk opened his lecture at Illinois State’s University Galleries with a sincere confession. Admitting that usually he opens lectures by fake-falling or tripping on the way to the podium to elicit some sympathy from his listeners, this lecture started with no compassionate foundation. Volk is recognized for Made-Up w/ Danny Volk, a YouTube channel wherein Volk interviews artists while being ‘made-up’ by the artist.

Danny Volk is no stranger of the stage.

Volk wears a few hats. The work ranges from managing a boy band in Toronto, STILL BOYS, to writing greek plays.

There is an interest of touch in Volks work, physical, discomforting and intimate touch. Volk is interested in the uncomfortable closeness that happens when you’re spit on accidentally in conversation, or able to feel the heat of an exhale from a stranger behind you in a movie theater. It is important to note that interaction with strangers is a cohesive strain in the work Volk spoke to, partially due to an understood consent between two strangers in a public arena. A few years ago, Volk tested this in a discreetly performative role as a seasonal sales associate at the Gap. In this role, Volk assisted customers in finding the products they were looking for while engaging them in a manner appropriate with his role. He used these interactions as a way to test, play and process the boundaries of privacy people were willing to define. There was touching, as I have come to understand is critical with this performance. After all, people don’t really like to be touched by strangers, do they? Volk would graze a neck with his knuckle, or tug a belt loop when adjusting pants. It is a functional, or maybe accidental-seeming touch, like a mother jamming her finger into the waistband of her child’s jeans to gauge how loose or tight a garment was.

There is an inherent need for play in Volk’s work. This is no doubt informed by his education in theater, as he puts it, “My myth,” or his launching point as a visual and performance artist. There is a play between spectator and performer, both live and online. While Made-Up is more passive in its engagement with viewers, Volk has a second identity on YouTube as himself, the artist, with three documented performances and very little views compared to Made-Up. Mr. Ed, one of the videos, references the 1960’s TV-famous talking horse pictured below.

In Volk’s video Mr. Ed, Volk mouths the words to Miley Cyrus's hit Wrecking Ball, all the while enduring the same human-inflicted torture the four-legged TV star suffered. I am trying to be vague, as there is another layer to the video which adds a transformational magic and sincerity that is accessible only through viewing.

Volk is very considerate and generous. He is keen to humor, and brings work into a polish that is posh and lofted, fantastical and, while tasty, can also be totally, grossly off-putting. Watch Mr. Ed here.